17 april 2018 05:09:02

In the early 1990s, then Congress-led government at the Centre introduced the ‘Look East Policy’, a novel concept that aimed to turn the country’s Northeast into the gateway to the Asia-Pacific region, and help build stronger ties with India’s extended neighbourhood. The policy remained India’s pivot for successive governments, including the first National Democratic Alliance regime led by BJP veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee from 1999 to 2004. While dividends of the Look East policy can be put up for debate, the Narendra Modi government, riding high on its landslide victory in the 2014 parliamentary elections, had different plans altogether for the oil-rich and...